Temporary Attorney General Stephen Cox has inserted himself into the national debate over birthright citizenship, saying that babies born to people in the U.S. illegally are damaging Alaska.
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The biggest argument 50 years ago about creating the Permanent Fund concerned a plan by House Republicans to ban the fund from investing in the stock market.
The stock market decline in 1973-74 of nearly 50 percent, triggered in part by the OPEC oil embargo, was the worst since the Great Depression. The GOP wanted to ban any investment without a guaranteed return. The idea would have cost tens of billions over time.
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The most important issue regarding John W. Wood’s fitness to evaluate judge candidates is his 1993 conviction in federal court for failing to file his federal taxes in 1987. The Legislature should reject his appointment to the Alaska Judicial Council.
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The Alaska Senate took a step toward eliminating a $100 million loophole in state tax law that allows Hilcorp to avoid an income tax paid by ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and others.
The Senate adopted an amendment to HB 194 on an 11-8 vote to extend the state corporate income tax to Hilcorp and other oil and gas companies that earn more than $1 million net profit.
Read MoreThe Dunleavy administration says that local governments could get nothing in taxes for up to 10 years from the proposed gas pipeline.
Or the governments would start to collect relatively small amounts as soon as the pipeline carries at least 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day, an amount that is far beyond the energy needs of the in-state market today.
Read MoreThe so-called conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Cour could rule it unconstitutional to allow ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted 10 days later—the practice that has long been used in Alaska—so the state needs a plan.
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It’s remarkable that even the Alaska Legislature is being denied access to a public document created with more than $250,000 of public money for the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.
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With the Permanent Fund now at the half-century mark, and the fund’s assets near $90 billion, the need for legislative oversight is greater than at any time in our history. Alaskans would better understand the operations and investment choices of the fund if we take steps now to create a transparent and functioning review process that protects the fund and the public.
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It’s been 50 years since Alaska voters created the Permanent Fund through an amendment to the Alaska Constitution. While this is one of the great success stories in Alaska history, enough time has passed to recognize a danger sign: Far too much power over the giant fund is delegated to a single person in the executive branch of state government—the governor.
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According to my rough math, if this is a $50 billion project, instead of a property tax of about $1 billion per year, Dunleavy is proposing an alternative tax of about $76 million per year, a reduction of about 92 percent. Most of the $75 million would go to the North Slope, Denali, Mat-Su and Kenai boroughs.
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